by Jennifer Jolly, Special for USA TODAY

by Jennifer Jolly, Special for USA TODAY

How did we ever get by without smartphones? We can use them to check e-mail, play Candy Crush, take video of our baby's first steps, plan a vacation, buy some new shoes, and even talk on the phone. (Yes, people still do that.) Unless the battery dies. When that happens, these go-to gadgets become lifeless, panic-inducing paperweights - leaving us stranded and out of touch.

Unfortunately, most every list of battery-saving tips suggests basically the same thing - shut down all of the useful features that make your smartphone smart. But you don't have to go to extremes. Here are five of our favorite insider tips and tricks to breathe more life into your smartphone battery today.

1. Turn it off

No, not your phone, just the stuff you're not using. Most battery-saving to-kill lists urge you to put your phone on airplane mode or turn off other vital features to spare a few minutes of battery life. While it's true that airplane mode saves battery, it's really only convenient when you're in an airplane and don't have to make a call or check your e-mail. For the most part, though, it's a pain to turn important features off, especially if you forget to turn them back on again when you need them. Instead, take a look at what you don't use much.

For example: If you aren't connecting to anything using bluetooth, leaving bluetooth on is nothing but a battery drain. The same holds true for notifications, location or GPS services, widgets, Wi-Fi, and Apple's new AirDrop feature. Take the time to go through your settings and turn off anything you aren't using or just don't want. Trimming down the number of notifications that pop up might save your stress levels as well as your battery life.

The fix: Go to iOS 7's control center or Android's quick settings to get easy access to these common battery-killing settings.

2. Dim it down

It may surprise you that the biggest drain on your phone's battery is the screen. As screens get bigger and brighter, they require more battery power to keep them going. The solution? Turn down your screen's brightness level or set it to adjust automatically. You can also reduce the amount of time the screen stays on when you aren't using the phone - the less time the screen is running, the more battery life you'll have.

Android has had live wallpapers for a while, but iPhone users now have their own dynamic wallpapers with iOS 7. While these animated wallpapers look cool, they drain your battery a lot more than a still image. Turn them off!

New software - whether it's an upgrade to your phone's operating system or an update to your favorite photo app - tends to come with improvements and bug fixes, and sometimes, these can reduce their power drain. Don't expect updating one app to make a significant difference, but small improvements can add up. Also, if there's an app with advertisements you find yourself using often, you might consider upgrading to a paid, ad-free version; it takes power to download and display those ads.

This may seem counter-intuitive, since I just told you to keep your apps up-to-date - but if your phone is configured to automatically upgrade apps, it's regularly burning power checking for updates and downloading them. Turning this feature off can save you a decent amount of battery life, especially if you love collecting apps.

And if that hasn't solved your battery troubles, I have a handful of platform-specific tips.

7. iPhone only

iPhone users who have upgraded to iOS 7 have a couple of new battery drains that can be flipped off to maximize battery life. First, turn off the motion effects when you open folders by going to Settings>General>Accessibility and turning Reduce Motion on. Then, go to Settings>General>Background App Refresh and turn off any app that you don't want burning battery life by running in the background.

8. Android Only

Android users have some great tools for controlling their battery life. The first trick is to go to Settings>About Phone>Battery Use to see just what's using up the most of your battery - and, if it's something you don't really need, to kill it. The next trick is to download Juice Defender. This app will automatically do all of the things you'd want to do to save battery life - such as shutting off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when you aren't using them, and then turning them back on when you need them - and you can configure it to be aggressive or lenient in its power savings.

The other way to squeeze a little more life out of your battery: Get a portable charger. We'll have a roundup of the best on the market coming soon. Until then, hopefully these tips have helped to alleviate your battery woes. Have your own battery-saving tips? Let me know in the comments!

Jennifer Jolly is an Emmy Award-winning consumer tech contributor and host of USA TODAY's digital video show TECH NOW. E-mail her at techcomments@usatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter: @JenniferJolly. (Tech Now writer Elizabeth Harper contributed to this story.)